Wow…this past week in Dongguan passed very quickly. Right now, I am getting ready for a flight north to the Shanghai area, but I have a few minutes for a quick post.

Bike Rumor mentioned this Peugeot B1K concept bike a couple of days ago (see more renderings there). Much like the flashy concept “fantasy” vehicles that are common in the auto industry, I doubt that this design was intended to ever be produced. More likely it was created to generate excitement and gain some needed attention for a brand that is poised for a revival these days. Though not intended for production, concept designs like this do serve a real purpose for designers (aside from creating flashy images for marketing). Cutting loose a bit and creating something that is purely conceptual from time to time helps to inspire the design team and (forgive me in advance for the cliche) “keep the creative juices flowing”. That creative energy can translate to a really nice, and saleable, product line down the road if the company chooses to puts the resources in place for the product development team to succeed.

It is pretty obvious that this exact bike won’t be coming to a bike shop near you anytime soon, but it is an interesting form which could indicate a very general design direction to come for Peugeot. They certainly need to do more to revive themselves than rebadge off the shelf steel, ti, aluminum, or carbon frames as some other older brands have done. One other old French brand comes to mind…I’ll let you guess which one . These days they make perfectly adequate bikes in the four materials I just mentioned, but there is really nothing special about any of the bikes, so they really have no choice but to compete solely on price in every category. It is kind of sad to see a brand with a long history and a well known name and race to the bottom like that with a low price strategy. Regardless of the design direction they choose, I certainly hope that Puegeot can do better.

I need to run now, but for a more thorough perspective on the importance of design in the bike industry, check out Chris Matthews’ recent “Bicycles & Business Design” post. As is always the case at Chris’ blog, the post is well written and insightful.

5 Comments

Even if it's not an especially realistic design, I do appreciate that it at least contains some interesting architecture and design concepts that go beyond solely aesthetics, though obviously the impeccable realization of the look is probably 90% of the concept.

I like the beam-frame structure, and the adoption of cables as tensile elements, both of which I think have not been explored enough in contemporary bike design. The hubless rear wheel, however, is always a groaner, though…the ultimate triumph of aesthetics over practicality.

i am not that sure, that a hubless wheel such a stupidity and just a simple eye-catcher.

from mechanical point of view, it's a lot better to insert forces at the rim not at the hub (leaver). it also saves a lot of weight by shortening the drive-train. just fair to mention, that of course the rim has to be more rigid and that maybe equals the gains from the drive-train cutting.

You've hit the nail on the head with the latter point. A hubless rim needs to be dramatically stiffer because any out-of-tolerance on a hubless wheel affects drivetrain efficiency as well as braking and ride. And because all that extra mass is located at the rim, the rotational inertia is hugely greater.

The handlebar puts you in about the same position as you would on a Tron lightcycle and may require you to slouch due to its bike structure.Stated as a racing bike, the Peugeot B1K Concept Bicycle uses a chainless drivetrain, and carbon fiber materials. As of now, not much is known on production, and more than likely we can say this is eye candy.Army ration Packs